SAN FRANCISCO – Golden State Warriors fans – both excited and perhaps a little bit relieved — began pouring out of Chase Center with about two minutes left in the fourth quarter Wednesday, confident that their favorite team’s season wasn’t going to end that night.
Outside, though, the party had already started. A “Beat L.A.” chant broke out from those watching the game on the huge, high-definition screen outside of the arena and soon after the final horn sounded, a DJ began to crank out beats in front of a couple hundred energetic fans.
Nearby, a certain aroma familiar to most concertgoers wafted through the air.
“I think they just went with a faster, smarter lineup, and they really took their time,” said Warriors fan and Benicia resident Seandale Turner, who stood well away from the proceedings on the Third Street sidewalk. “They were patient today.”
The question now is whether the scene outside the arena can be repeated this year.
The Warriors staved off elimination with a 121-106 win over the Lakers in Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinal series, but now need to win in L.A. on Friday in Game 6 to extend their season again. The Lakers went 10-4 at home over the final seven weeks of the regular season, and are 6-0 inside their own building this postseason, including their play-in game victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 11.
Adding to the uncertainty is that the Warriors went 11-30 on the road this season, and lost Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles to fall behind in the series three-games-to-one.
“I wouldn’t say I’m super confident, but I’m hopeful and I would not be surprised if that’s the case,” said San Francisco resident Kamil Smith, who watched the game from outside the arena. “The Warriors, if any team can do it, it’s definitely us. We’ve shown that we can beat the Lakers at their best, so we have what it takes, for sure.”
The crowd outside @ChaseCenter reacts to a big bucket by Andrew Wiggins. Warriors up 113-100 with 2:47 left to play in the fourth quarter pic.twitter.com/86xTHWFl1j
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) May 11, 2023
“I’m concerned. Of course, I’m concerned,” said Woodside’s Catha Hall, whose husband has had Warriors’ season tickets for 40 years. “But miracles and teamwork do happen.”
The last time the Warriors faced elimination on the road, on April 30 in Game 7 of their first-round series in Sacramento, they responded with a 120-100 win over the Kings at Golden1 Center.
Steph Curry scored 50 points in the win, setting an NBA record for most points scored by one player in a Game 7.
Might a similarly heroic performance be needed to extend the series to a seventh game back in San Francisco on Sunday, when Golden State tries to improve to 9-2 in elimination games under coach Steve Kerr?
“All I can tell you is it’s possible,” said Richmond’s Jimmy Stuart. “I won’t get my hopes up too high, but it’s very much possible.”
Ryder Zinober has no doubt that the Warriors can win in Los Angeles and bring the series back to San Francisco for a decisive Game 7. He pointed to what the Warriors did in Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder as proof that anything is possible.
In that series, the Warriors, down 3-1, won Game 5 at home before they came back to win Game 6 on the road 108-101, as they erased a seven-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter behind an unforgettable performance from Klay Thompson, who finished with 41 points.
Golden State then won Game 7 at home 96-88 to advance.
That Ryder was just 3 years old at the time, as his dad, Scott, points out, is immaterial.
“Let’s just go back to (2016). They were down 3-1 to OKC, and they won that series,” Ryder, now 10, said. “And they didn’t have (Kevon Looney) that year and they also didn’t have (Andrew) Wiggins, and so I’m super confident. I think they can definitely do it.”
“If they could pull it off then,” Hall said, “they can pull it off now.”
But in the next round, the NBA Finals, Golden State coughed up a 3-1 series lead, losing Games 5 and 6 by double digits to the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers, before seeing Game 7 at home slip away in a 93-89 loss.
Maybe 2023 can be a payback for 2016.
“They’re always a rivalry with LeBron,” Smith said. “There will never not be a rivalry. It’s always payback.”
Fans on Wednesday loved the performance of Draymond Green, who had 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting, to go with 10 rebounds and four assists.
Perhaps this playoff run is the last hurrah for the Warriors’ core of Curry, Thompson, and Green, whose contract carries a player option for the 2023-24 season. Green could opt out of that deal with the hopes of signing a longer-term pact, but there is no guarantee that the new contract will be with Golden State.
Bob Myers, now in his 11th year as the Warriors general manager, is in the last season of his contract and it is unclear as to whether he will be back with the organization in the fall.
Warriors fans might not be thinking about that just yet. Right now, they don’t want to see the party end — sights, sounds, and smells — included.
“I think they’re going to tie the series up,” Turner said. “I think Game 7 is going to be the pivotal game where we’ll know who’s going to win the West.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com